Just Another Song
by missdallywinston
Summary: Once Ezra gets out of the hospital, Aria and Ezra talk about what to do with their relationship and reflect on the past. One shot based on Lucy Hale's song.


**(A/N:) Two oneshots in a day? I'm on a roll! Anyway, this was requested anonymously on my tumblr and it's based on Lucy Hale's song "Just Another Song" and words cannot describe how much I love that song so I wrote this :) Enjoy!**

_I'm a long way from the place I used to be.  
It's a good day_

"Isn't Ezra coming home tomorrow?" Spencer asked, fiddling with a lone hanger on Aria's bed. Aria had asked her for help to reorganize her room and Spencer jumped at the chance, wanting to know what Aria planned on doing when Ezra got back from New York. Almost thirty minutes had passed and Spencer was ready to start the touchy topic.

Aria internally groaned at the question and stepped out of her closet. "Yeah, that's what I heard."

Spencer narrowed her gaze. "So you've talked to him?"

"Well," Aria shrugged, "I called him yesterday. I thanked him for saving us and telling me about Shana and we just talked for a few minutes."

"Talked about what?"

Aria scoffed, "I just told you. We talked about New York. And that's when he told me he'd be coming home tomorrow. He actually wants me to pick him up… can you believe that?"

"Actually, yeah, I can," Spencer protested. Aria glared at her a little and Spencer shrugged. "What? He needs someone to pick him up and it's not like he has a lot of people in his life. Besides, you are his girlfriend and –"

"I am _not_ his girlfriend!" Aria argued, her voice louder than before.

Spencer just raised her eyebrows at the protest. "Do you want to be?"

Aria sighed dramatically and joined Spencer on the bed. "I don't know what I want. I mean, he took a bullet for me, for all of us, but… he lied for so long."

"You still love him," Spencer mumbled, smiling sadly as she looked at her friend.

Nodding her head reluctantly, "I know."

"Is he still leaving?" Spencer questioned, changing the subject. "You said that you told him to leave town."

"Oh, I told him on the phone he didn't have to," Aria explained. "He probably would've stayed anyway."

"Aria, you know that's not true," Spencer scolded. "He loves you like crazy and he'd do anything for you. If the last few days haven't proved that, I don't know what will."

She flashbacked to Ezra telling her he would do anything and smiled slightly. Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all. Sighing, Aria nodded. "It's just hard right now. I don't know what's gonna happen… hey, I know I asked you to come over but now I just kind of wanna be alone."

"I completely get it," Spencer grinned. She got up, kissed the top of Aria's head, before finally saying, "Even if you two don't work out right now, I'm almost positive you two will find your way back to each other. You love each other too much to let it go completely."

Even though she knew the words were utterly true, Aria shrugged them off. "Spencer, I think you've been watching too many chick flicks."

Her friend laughed before departing the room. Aria's smile faded and she curled up on her bed. She wanted Ezra so badly, but knowing that they were based on a lie killed her. Everything she fought for, everything she loved about them, it revolved around a vicious, heart shattering lie.

_Oh, teardrops have gone,  
Oh, then I hear that song._

After a few minutes of lying despondently, Aria decided to return to cleaning her room. She put on some music and tried to forget everything for a while. The music helped, actually. She felt the burdens on her shoulder grow lighter with every pop song, but once she decided to make her bed, her iPod decided to stab her in the back.

Happiness.

_It takes me to me and you,  
Black and white movie I made you watch, then we kissed._

The first few beats of the song began and Aria immediately felt her throat close up. If she had any sense, she'd fast forward the song or mute it, but she stood still. She began to think about her reaction to when she first saw him at the bar. Once he had turned, she had instantly been attracted to his kind, blue eyes. She laughed softly to herself as she remembered how ridiculously curly his hair had been and was happy he had since gotten it cut. She remembered how he had smiled brightly after mentioning "B26."

She never understood why she had been so enchanted by him. Nor did she understand why she had invited him into the bathroom with her. When she had told her friends that they made out in a bathroom, they had all thought he was the one to make the move when it had actually been her. She didn't know what it was, he had just seemed so great.

Before she knew it, tears were pouring down her cheeks as every moment they ever shared flashed like a flip book in her mind. Kisses, fights, hugs, tears…everything hit her all at once as she cried in the middle of her room.

_That's when it hits me, you're gone.  
Maybe to you, it's probably just another song._

She wondered what Ezra remembered about them, specifically when they had met. Had he noticed the sparkle in her eyes? Had he noticed how quickly and easily he made her smile? A part of Aria told her he had just been thinking "this will make my book so much better."

But he seemed so sorry. She remembered how his own tears cascaded down his cheeks on the ski lift and how his voice had cracked when she told him to get gone.

Maybe it wasn't too late for them, she thought. Maybe they could start all over and avoid mistakes. That's all the needed really, just to rebuild their foundation. But, despite the bullet wound and short phone call, what if Ezra didn't even want that? They had fought and broke so many times… did he even want to try again? Aria liked to imagine he did, but she just never knew with him.

Once the song ended, Aria wiped her cheeks and threw on her shoes. She ran downstairs, grabbed her keys, and headed to the one place she could be at peace. And right now, she desperately needed peace.

_It's the flood gate of memories I don't want to feel.  
Oh, it's all just a little too real._

When she was outside the door, she quickly unlocked the apartment and headed inside, planning on laying in his – their – bed and crying herself to sleep. Even though parts of her didn't want to think of him, nothing was more comforting then the smell of his apartment for her. It was truly her safe haven.

But once she stepped inside, her jaw dropped. Ezra was just sitting there on the couch. "Oh. You're here."

"It is my apartment," Ezra retorted softly, sitting up.

Aria watched with caution as he got up and mentally screamed at him to be more careful. "I thought… I thought you were coming home tomorrow?"

"Well, my brother came to the hospital and they said I could come home today, so…"

"And you've just been here by yourself?!" Aria asked incredulously. "Ezra, what if something happened if you were by yourself! What if you passed out or fell or –"

"Aria, I'm fine," Ezra interrupted, even though he loved seeing Aria worry about him; it meant she still cared. "My brother stayed for a while, but he had to get back home."

Aria nodded and set her bag down on the kitchen table. "You could've called me," she whispered after a few seconds. Her eyes welled with tears as she thought about it more. Did he not _want _to see her?

Ezra could tell she was on the verge of crying just hearing her voice and walked over to her. He was a few feet away from her before questioning gently, "Aria, why are you here?"

Aria's snapped her head up and stuttered, "Um, I… I was gonna, uh…"

"What's wrong?" Ezra asked, stepping closer.

"I just wanted to be here," Aria told him, looking down at her feet. "This is one of the only places I feel safe. And I guess I just missed it here." She shrugged as she looked around the apartment a little. It was still pretty messy, thanks to her, but it was better.

Neither of them said anything, but finally Ezra apologized, "Sorry I didn't call you. I didn't think you wanted me to."

Aria just stared at him sadly. "Did you want to?"

Ezra shrugged, blushing a little. "Yeah, I did. I've missed you. But I know things are different and I didn't want to make you madder than you probably already are."

"I'm not mad anymore," Aria said. Ezra just raised his eyebrows at her knowingly and Aria sighed. "Okay, maybe a little, but after seeing you on that rooftop and seeing you bleeding out, I'm not, I'm not as mad." She paused before stepping towards him. "Thank you again. I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if you hadn't shown up."

"You don't have to thank me," Ezra dismissed, waving her off. "I'd do it again."

_It takes me to me and you,  
'45 spinning, I made you dance, then we kissed._

The two stared at each other, neither knowing what to say. Eventually, Aria asked him shyly, "Ezra, can I ask you something?" He nodded and Aria added, "You have to be honest, though. Don't just say what you think I want to hear, okay?"

"Okay," Ezra agreed, a little nervous about the potential question.

"What was going through your head when you met me?" Aria asked curiously.

Ezra smirked at the question and leaned against the counter. "Well, when I saw you at the bar, I realized you were one of Alison's friends. I remembered seeing you and your friends on the news after she had disappeared. That's where I recognized you from." Ezra paused and watched as Aria processed the information.

"So I decided to talk to you since I had been, um, planning the book." He gulped as he thought about the book. He never understood how he had planned to pursue Aria simply for research. Frankly, it sickened him to even think about how he had even been capable of doing such a thing.

"Then when we started talking, I knew you were Aria. Alison had told me a little about her friends and she mentioned one who liked books and stuff and Ali said," Ezra chuckled softly thinking of it, "she said that I'd probably like her. I guess she was right."

Aria smiled at the idea of Alison describing herself to Ezra a year before they had met. She reminded herself to ask Alison about it the next time she saw her.

"And honestly," Ezra started up again, "part of me thought about how it was gonna be easy to get perspective on Ali through you, but a bigger part was wowed by you. You looked so happy just talking about English and I thought about how it could turn into more than research. We talked for a while and I thought less and less of the book and more of how amazing you were. How amazing you are."

Aria smiled, "So you didn't just think of the book?"

"No, of course not," Ezra told her. "I thought of how beautiful you are. I thought of how you were acting so confident and how incredible you are. You had impressed me just by saying you liked writing and The Fray. You were perfect for me, are perfect for me. And I thought of how maybe the book wouldn't matter and we could be a couple."

"You're making that up," Aria teased.

Ezra shook his head, "I'm not."

"So… you thought I was perfect for you?"

Ezra lifted one shoulder and explained, "I mean, yeah…" They fell silent and Ezra asked, "Why the question?"

"I just wanted to know if you were just thinking about the book."

"I stopped thinking about the book when we ate leftovers on the floor," Ezra chuckled.

Aria laughed softly, "That's a relief… Have you eaten? I can make you something if you want."

Ezra smiled widely at the offer, partially because he loved how Aria had already faded into old times, and also because he had been stuck eating rice pudding mush from the hospital. "Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you."

Aria smiled back, "You don't have to thank me." She inhaled sharply before carefully wrapping her arms around Ezra. He was a little stunned at first, but wrapped his arms around her back seconds after. Aria reveled at the sound of his heartbeat and murmured, "I'm glad you're okay."

Ezra kissed the top of his head and smiled at the smell of her strawberry shampoo. He had wanted this, just a simple gesture from her, for so long. He had missed her ever since she'd ran off the ski lift once it ended. Now, just having her wrapped in his arms, he couldn't have been happier.

_Maybe to you, it's just a good day._

**(A/N:) Hope you liked it! Don't forget to review!**

**Also, if you want to request something, go on to my tumblr (ezras-turtleneck) and send me an ask :) but i'm not doing smut :))**


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